Southern District of Texas Finds US Liable to Exxon for $20.3 Million
At the end of August, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued what it hoped would be the final opinion in a decade's long litigation between Exxon Mobil Corp. and the U.S. government over past and future cleanup costs incurred under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) to remediate Exxon's Baytown, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refineries and nearby chemical plants. See Exxon Mobil v. United States, Nos. H-10-2386 & H-11-1814, slip op. at 1 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 19, 2020). The facilities and chemical plants were contaminated by, among other activities, the production of war materials during World War II and the Korean War. The 113-page order and opinion following a lengthy bench trial found the United States liable to Exxon for $20.3 million.
